This is a little different. Miracle is the San Diego Section’s top heavyweight wrestler and his sister recently captured the section girls heavyweight title. The fighting they do comes in practice every day.

“She’s my wrestling partner because she’s my size and she’s way more aggressive than most wrestlers, boy or girl,” says Miracle matter-of-factly. “She’s faster and heavier than anyone on the team.

“It helps both of us. I have a workout partner who’s not intimidated and she won’t find a girl who’s as strong as I am.”

Miracle is a 6-foot, 235-pounder who is 33-3 and defended his section Division IV title Saturday. He is favored in the masters meet this weekend. He has bench-pressed 285, doing three sets of 10 at 225 in practice. He was a first team All-League linebacker-running back in football.

Leimai has never lifted weights. She played middle blocker in volleyball. Leimai is quick on her feet and has suffered just one loss this year — to a boy.

“I throw him around, he throws me around and afterward we both laugh,” says Leimai, who weighs the same as her brother. “We don’t hold back. I think it helps me more than him because I’m more aggressive.”

Leimai has six older brothers but she says they never came to her rescue when she was in trouble.

“They didn’t have to because they knew I could take care of myself,” she says, chuckling. “They picked on me but they let me join in when they played sports.”

Those family gatherings were encouraged by their father, Ula, the pastor of the Samoan Independent Full Gospel Church in Lemon Grove where Miracle and Leimai are in the choir and both learned a lot about life while working on weekly countywide food drives.

“It’s for the homeless,” said Miracle, who got his name after he and his mother, Mai, survived a particularly dangerous childbirth.

“Doing it makes me feel good because it gives them another chance. I like singing in the choir, too.”

Miracle says he far prefers wrestling over football. He says while he likes the bonding in football where he gets an appreciation of team, he prefers the opportunity to decide his own fate one-on-one on the mat based on training and learning.

He says while there are just three two-minute periods in a wrestling match, meets like the section championships, masters and state can be far more grueling than football, lasting all day for two days.

Miracle lost in the first round of the state last year, wrestled back with four wins, but then lost the first match the next day. That won’t be close to good enough this year.

“I had butterflies that first match,” explains Miracle, “but now I know what to expect. I’m ranked fifth in the state and my losses are to the No. 1 and No. 2 wrestlers in the state. I’ve learned from those losses.”

As for Leimai, anything short of a state championship this weekend in Visalia will not be tolerated.

She and Mount Miguel teammate Talisha Dozier are both favored, but Leimai has simply dominated her opponents, usually winning by fall (pin) early in the match.

“It was my first state meet and all the girls ahead of me were seniors,” says Leimai, who placed eighth overall last year.

Miracle won’t be there to cheer her on as he participates in the section masters meet. But his thoughts will be with her, just as they are every day in practice.